Residential Heat Pumps And High Efficiency Air Conditioners Save Energy and Money
Qualifications for the Residential Energy Conservation Program
OPPD offers energy credit refunds to customers through the Residential Energy Conservation Program. The program is available to any OPPD customer who:
- Purchases and installs a new heat pump or high-efficiency air conditioner in a residential home.
- Installs accepted heat pump indoor/outdoor thermostats with outdoor thermostat set at 20 degrees F or lower. Click here to view approved thermostats.
Qualifying equipment includes new electric heat pumps equal to or greater than 13 SEER¹,and new air conditioners equal to or greater than 16 SEER. All equipment must be matched according to AHRI ratings. Installed heat pump equipment may be inspected by OPPD before acceptance in the program. Determination of equipment qualification for the Residential Energy Conservation Program (RECP) will be at the sole discretion of OPPD. Heat gain/loss calculations should be performed on the home where the equipment will be installed.
Please note: Not all heat pumps and air conditioners qualify for this program. To determine which qualify, call your heating contractor or OPPD's HVAC Technology Department at (402) 636-3753 or 1-800-648-2658.
Energy Credit Refunds
Energy credits are broken into 3 categories with refund structures for each. Categories are listed below with the qualifying criteria. Please allow six (6) weeks for processing.
Heat Pumps installed in newly constructed homes, all electric or dual fuel; and equipment replaced in dual fuel homes or homes that have been converted to all electric:
13 & 14 SEER = $200
15 SEER =$300
16 & over SEER=$400
Heat Pumps 1.5 tons or smaller with minimum 13 SEER = $50
Heat Pumps installed in existing all electric homes, not newly constructed:
13 & 14 SEER = $100
15 SEER = $150
16 & over SEER = $200
Air Conditioners installed in newly constructed or existing homes, all electric or duel fuel:
16 SEER = $175
17 & over SEER = $200
Energy Conservation Rate for Heat Pump Owners
A special Energy Conservation Rate is available for those customers with installed heat pumps of 13 SEER or greater. The Energy Conservation Rate (residential rate 115) is the same as the standard residential rate except for a lower last rate block during the winter billing period (October through May). The RECP energy credit rebate application also serves as an application for the Energy Conservation Rate.The rate will be applied to the next bill after OPPD receives and processes the application. To qualify, the electric heat pump must supply at least 50 percent of the space conditioning requirements for the home and have an outdoor thermostat setting of 20° F or lower.
Heat Pump Operating Costs
To download an 83 KB Excel file that will enable you to calculate the savings a heat pump can bring to a home like yours, click here. (If you don't have Excel software, you can download a free version from Microsoft to view the file.) The figures used in the Excel file are based on the Omaha area, with electric rates from OPPD and gas rates from utilities in OPPD's service territory.
¹SEER - Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio - A unit of measurement for the efficiency of the equipment. The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) have established SEER or EER ratings for all heating and cooling units. This rating can be found in the Directory of Certified Unitary Air Conditioners and Air-Source Heat Pumps, and the Directory of Certified Applied Air-Conditioning Products, published by the ARI, AHRI.
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